Wednesday, January 30, 2008

What did Harbhajan say?

According to Times of India :"Reports said that Harbhajan admitted at the hearing that he had abused Symonds with a hindi word which sounded like 'monkey'.

When the Counsel for the Australian players asked Harbhajan what he had said, Harbhajan said "I admit I abused Symonds and said m- - - - (an abusive word in Hindi).

The Indian officials at the hearing burst out laughing when Harbhajan disclosed the word.

Judge Hansen confirmed the meaning of the word from Tendulkar and the dropped the charge of racial abuse against the Indian spinner. "Harbhajan's mother:"I knew God was with us and I had full faith that my son would come out clean", according to TOI again.More from CricketInformation:"Unlike Mike Procter, who thought Tendulkar was not in a position to hear what was uttered, Hansen said "extensive video footage" establishes that Tendulkar "was within earshot and could have heard the words".

Tendulkar said he heard Harbhajan "use a term in his native tongue "teri maa ki" which appears to be pronounced with an "n". He said this is a term that sounds like "monkey" and could be misrepresented for it."

Symonds couldn't recall if he had heard Harbhajan use that particular Hindi abuse and accepted that it was a possibility. He also didn't find favour with the judge with his explanation for abusing Harbhajan after he had patted Brett Lee on the back side. Symonds said he had objected because "a Test match is no place to be friendly with an opposition player" but Hansen dismissed that explanation ("If that is his view I hope it is not one shared by all international cricketers").

Michael Clarke's account was critical, considering that it did not coincide favourably with the rest. "It is not without significance that the Australian players maintain other than Mr Symonds that they did not hear any other words spoken, only the ones that are said to be of significance to this hearing," Hansen said.

"This is a little surprising in the context where there was a reasonably prolonged heated exchange. Indeed Mr Clarke went so far as to say that he did not hear Mr Symonds say anything. Given Mr Symonds' own acceptance that he initiated the exchange and was abusive towards Mr Singh, that is surprising. This failure to identify any other words could be because some of what they were hearing was not in English." "Cognitive dissonance?P.S.1) Text of Hansen's decision and afterthought.2)Rohul Sidhardhan notes some inconsistencies in Symond's statements.